Mandy's Vocabulary

Cary guest blogger here.

Mandy's got a humungous vocabulary. Anyone who's ever tried to take her on in Scrabble (or her latest Facebook application craze: Scramble--check it out here) knows she can't be beat. So the other day I was mining her considerable resources to help me come up with a definitive list of verbs derived from "mettre" for a French lesson I was writing as part of my summer job. The root is the same in English, so I started the list and asked her to come up with similar ones: admit, commit, permit, emit, omit, etc.

Her answer:

VOMIT

Yup...She's a mom!

We had a good laugh.

Superdad

Well, our whole family is sick once again. It seems that despite my best efforts at germ-control, we have our own little petri dish.

I was to teach the women's class at church today, so I went solo. It was so strange being there by myself. When the girls were barely talking, we started a tradition of saying "Here, We, GO!" anytime we went anywhere in the van. The kids all join in on the "GO!" part and do the "charge" motion with their arms. So when I was driving today I missed that. I didn't have to dress four children or take a diaper bag. I was also able to actually pay attention in the first meeting! It has been getting better and better, but I still don't usually hear much of the service.

Cary fed Lana this morning for me. I decided to snap a photo. And no, I don't know why he's wearing a tie on his head. That's just what dads do, isn't it?

While I was gone, he and the children made a "Welcome Home Mama" sign and hung it in the window. He caught a picture of them on the porch after letting them check out their handiwork:

Gwyn, Lana, Everett, Maddie

He also had lunch waiting for me, dinner in the crockpot, and the house was pretty much the way I left it! I felt really loved, and he scored some major points!

Good News

Cary has been a graduate student at Pitt since the fall of 2000, and this is his last year of university funding. He applied for two fellowships for the next school year, either of which, if awarded, would provide funding for one more year without teaching and coursework requirements attached. We were informed earlier this month that he was an "alternate" for one of the fellowhips and would not receive the other. That sent Cary into a bit of a scramble to look for work.

Well--drumroll, please--we received another letter yesterday which informed us that he is no longer an alternate! He will be awarded one of the fellowships and will be able to focus completely on his dissertation instead of trying to write it while working at another job. Woohoo!!! (That's exactly what I said when we read the letter, along with a big sigh of relief.) We feel very blessed.

The daylight savings effect continues...

I think that the daylight savings change may be affecting us more than the children! Cary gave all the kids baths and put Everett to bed while I dressed the girls, put Maddie and Gwyn to bed, and gave Lana her syringe feeding. This is what I found when I came upstairs (aka Cary putting Everett to bed):

And here's a cute Gwyn story: Gwyn has had a fever the past two days and has been fairly miserable. Yesterday after dinner she came up to me, held up her arms, and said "I know, I know" in a comforting tone. That is often what I say when I'm comforting Everett. I don't even remember saying it to the girls, but apparently I have! It warms my heart to know that the children appreciate those little things that I do.

Husband Tag

Looks like there's a new tag going around! If you are reading this and you feel like you want to play than go right ahead and consider yourself tagged!

What is your husband's name?
Cary Campbell
How long have you been married?
almost 9 years
How long did you date?
We met August 1998, started dating exclusively that November, were engaged January 1999, and married June 4, 1999. (I guess that would be about nine months of dating.)
How old his he?
34
Who eats more?
That’s hard to say because he skips meals. He eats more at one sitting.
Who said I love you first?
He did, but I was ready to say it right back. I was so happy that I cried.
Who is taller?
He is.
Who can sing better?
He can, but we both love to sing. Here's a picture of him singing to me at our wedding reception:

Who is smarter?
Hmmm… That’s a toughie. We each have our areas of strength. He uses his book-learned smarts more. I'm into the ABCs right now. ;)
Who does the laundry?
I do, but he did the washing part for a while before and after the births of our children.
Who pays the bills?
I do, for the most part. I used to love paying bills, but now they're mostly automatic. (Bills seemed so mundane and unecessary after the girls were born. "Do we really have to do this? Taking care of crying babies is so much more important!")
Who mows the lawn?
He does. I help with the trimming every now and then.
Who cooks dinner?
I do, but he is master of the grill.
Who drives?
He does. Even on our 4000 mile trip to Canada I only drove for a few hours.
Who is more stubborn?
HAH! We are both the oldest child in our families. I think I might still be able to say that he’s more stubborn, but it’s a really close call. I guess our kids are doomed.
Who kissed who first?
He asked me if he could kiss me, then we kissed.
Who asked who out first?
He asked. (He forgot my name on our first date.) This is a picture of us dressed up for Homecoming of 1998. When my dad saw this picture, he said that Cary was practicing.

Who proposed?
He did. He was really creative about it too. He enlisted the help of our good friends and his family members to deliver a dozen roses one at a time with bags of scrabble pieces attached to them. I had to unscramble the pieces to find the proposal, then he got down on one knee and asked me.

Who is more sensitive?
I am.
Who has more siblings?
He does. He’s one of eight and I’m one of four.
Who wears the pants?
I try not to stick my leg in too much, but we do share the pants.

The Tooth Ritual

Cary has come up with a really neat way to brush the kids' teeth each night. When it's time for bed, everyone troops upstairs into the girls' room. Cary gets the brushes loaded up with toothpaste, and all the girls lay down on the floor. He brushes their teeth, one child at a time, and they get to hold onto their brushes (a little practice--or chewing on the brush) until everyone is done. Then they all go into the bathroom and rinse and tap their brushes. It is all calm and happy, which we love! At first they didn't want to give up the toothbrushes, but now they know the system and have fun with it.

These pictures aren't at night, but they're at least related:

Little Thug?

And here's a Maddie cute for the day:

She was roaring to scare me. "Saur." roaaarrr "Dragon." roaaarrr "Lion." roaaarrrrr

Flashback to 2 March 2006

So, any guesses as to why I picked two years ago? ;)

On March 2nd, 2006, I was in the hospital recovering from the cesarean birth of three little girls. The girls were all in the NICU in incubators, but doing well with just an IV for support. I was happily chowing down on anything they put in front of me, since for the first time in months I was finally able to eat anything and more than one serving of it too! I was also wondering where my abs had gone, because they seemed to have disappeared. (I actually asked the doctor where they were.) Further information in this post would definitely be TMI!

Everett was at home throwing up, poor guy. Cary was traveling back and forth between home and the hospital, but spending most of his time with me. We were getting down to the NICU as much as we could, and trying to divide our time between the three girls. Unfortunately, they were not only in separate beds, but separate rooms. So Cary and I would try to be there at most of the feeding times, and alternate who fed which baby. We had trouble at first deciding which name would go with which girl, because we couldn't see them side-by-side. (We thought for sure that we'd be able to tell Maddie and Gwyn apart when they were together, but when we brought them home we said "Uh oh!" They really are identical!!! We finally found a difference in their ears which we used to tell them apart for a while.)

Lana

Gwyn (I think)

Maddie

That was really a marathon time in our lives. Looking back, I don't know how we made it through. We just did what we had to do and had some wonderful support from church and family members. We had meals, 8 hours of help during the day, and Cary helping me at night (for round-the-clock feedings every three hours, each of which took an hour for two people).

The Big Day

Today was the big day, and then again, maybe not so big. The girls are officially two years old!!! We sang "Happy Birthday", but they really have no clue what that means. It's not a song they've heard much of, so they weren't even really excited about the song. I'm sure they'll have a lot more fun next weekend when we actually celebrate. Grandma was at a music festival all day, and I was at a reception tonight so the celebration had to wait. Everett is really looking forward to decorating and making the cake with me.

My musical numbers went well, which I was really glad about because at least for now it seems like "me practicing" = "kids screaming". I just wish Cary could have heard it (meaning the playing, not the screaming). He stayed home with the kids. It's interesting just how different the priorities are between moms and dads. They had pizza for dinner, and when I got home the dishes were still on the table, and toys all over the floor. BUT, he bundled all the kids up and played with them in the backyard and gave them baths, so I'm not going to complain (just raise my eyebrows a little and smile).

More of "What happens when you come to our house"

The following pictures were all taken in the last few days. Warning to visitors: It is recommended that you remain in an upright position, or this could happen to you.

Grandma is under there somewhere!

Our girls recruited the president of our Pittsburgh area church

congregations and his wife (who is their nursery leader) to be horsies.

Dogpile on Dada!

Often when Cary and I hug, we end up with a little person or two between us. Everett thinks it's really sweet when we hug. Yesterday he said "When I am big and I get married I will kiss someone on the lips." At what age does this actually turn into a gross-out for kids? The children also love it when we pick them up and Cary and I each kiss a cheek simultaneously.

Everett is really starting to think about his prayers, and the girls are learning to pray. At first, we would have them repeat what we said, but now they are starting to come up with some things on their own. It is so cute!!! I should really record it sometime. I love hearing their little voices say things like "bless" and "flam-il-ee". Lana sometimes says "Amen" before the prayer is over. They are also learning a lot of songs. Here are some of their favorites:

I Am a Child of God

Popcorn Popping

Once There was a Snowman

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Better Late Than Never

Well, Cary got into a bit of trouble yesterday. It seems he planned on doing Valentine's Day a day late, but he neglected to inform me. (Sounds a little suspicious, doesn't it?) He has always been really good at doing sweet things for me, so all day long I was anticipating something. Today he took three of the children so that I could have some one-on-one time with Gwyn (and he could get my v-day gifts). Gwyn and I had a nice time coloring together. It is refreshing having just one at a time every now and then! It feels like everyone is in competition most of the time, for just about everything--toys, attention, etc. When there's just one, everything slows down and calms down. I can observe more of their individual personalities because they're relaxed and happy. Gwyn was calm and methodical. She was more interested in arranging the crayons than actually coloring with them.

Here are my goodies. ( The bag is filled with chocolate.)

And these are the Valentine Everett made this year. I couldn't post them yesterday because some of the recipients hadn't received them yet. (Yes, Cary wasn't the only one who was a little late.) Everett made mine with a lot of stickers, but after I presented him with his valentine, he decided to add even more stickers.

When Angels Come to Stay

As I was mopping the floors today, I was thinking about the ways that motherhood has changed me (starting with my more efficient, and in part previously unnecessary cleaning methods). I decided to add these thoughts to the list of questions I already answered on motherhood.

Motherhood softened me. When I met Cary, my entire wardrobe consisted primarily of four colors: blue, black, khaki, and white. I added some green after that, but when Everett was born--prepare yourselves-- I bought a pink dress *gasp*. But the change went a lot deeper than that. Somehow it was not just okay to be soft: it felt good and right. I guess it felt like a quiet power.

I now mop walls, fridge, stove, dishwasher, and just about the whole bathroom every time I mop!

Being a mother has brought unconditional love to my heart. Even before the tiny beings are born, you love them. When they come and fill your life with messy diapers, lack of sleep, worry, and strain, you love them even more and feel joy in your stress. I feel like I began to have a better understanding of how our Heavenly Father loves us after I became a mother.

Now that it's gone, I recognize that I used to have a lot of time!

I eat more chocolate. (During particularly stressful days I have actually called Cary and asked him to stop for chocolate on his way home. He, being the wonderful husband that he is, actually gets it for me.)

I stay up later in a futile and exhausting attempt to add more hours to the day.

Everything in my house is now either locked, or placed at least three feet off the ground.

I have memorized a lot of Baby Einstein, Veggie Tales, and Disney movies.

To four small children, I am one of the most important and wonderful people in the world.

Cary finally got me!

We had finally decided that Maddie should see a doctor on Thursday morning, so Cary took her to the pediatrician while I took care of the other kids. I called him a little over an hour after the sceduled appointment time. Here's the gist of our conversation:

"Hi Cary."
"Hi. What's up?"
"I was just calling to check your status. I didn't want to put Gwyn to bed until Maddie was home."
"Well, we're still here."
"Really?"
"Yeah. They found something growing in her ear."
"Oh?"
"They've consulted three different doctors."
"What?"
"One of them thinks it's a fern."

Usually I can tell immediately if Cary is trying to pull one over on me, but this time I didn't catch it till he mentioned the fern! (It might be partly because it was over a cell phone and the kids were making noise in the background, bet he finally got me!)

Cary is ABD

I just realized that I forgot to post Cary's exciting news:

Cary is now ABD! For those of you who are normal people and think that sounds like some form of disorder, it actually stands for "All But Dissertation" in nerdy scholarly circles. This means that he has finished all of his coursework, his prospectus has been approved, and he has been formally accepted as a PhD candidate.

Though I never expected his studies to take this long, I'm very proud of what he has accomplished. We celebrated his success with a nice dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse. (Yes, an actual date, and we had a great time.) Cary thinks they should make a steak-scented candle. Mmmmm

So he had one brief sigh of relief after his defense, and has now buckled down for the long haul of actually writing his dissertation. I keep trying to dicker with him to cut down the time for completing the degree, but I guess it doesn't really work that way!

And the winner is...

Drumroll please: I have chosen a winner for the caption contest. Cary thinks that I chose this one because we share a brain (and perhaps it's true). My mom will receive a candy bar for her "Aqua-footed Gwynny hen" entry, and Cary received one of the rubber gloves for his effort in submitting not one but six captions for the contest. Thanks to everyone who submitted an idea!

(If you'd like to see the entries, just look at the comments under the post "Call for Captions".)

Our Latest "Childproofing" Measures

For a time, we thought our house was pretty childproof... We are learning, of course, that there really is no such thing! Everett is, for the most part, a very obedient, helpful boy, but he has discovered some creative ways to make a lot of work for Cary. Once during a family picnic (summer of 2007), he came out of the bathroom and said to me: "I don't like Spiderman anymore." I assumed he was referring to his underwear, and that he had just changed into another pair.

Well, a few hours later I learned that my assumption was incorrect. Apparently he had decided that he no longer liked a spiderman toy, and had attempted to flush it down the toilet. This being the day of a family picnic, the bathroom had heavy usage, and by the time we discovered the problem... well, I guess that would be TMI. Cary spent a couple of hours that night taking everything apart and mopping things up, and the next day Everett helped retrieve spiderman from the pipe and replace the toilet.

A couple of months later, we discovered that the vent in Everett's room was not apparently not attached securely enough. I had let all four children play with stuffed animals in there for a few minutes while I vacuumed another bedroom. They removed the vent and proceeded to drop interesting objects into the ducts. That night Cary spent some time opening the ductwork and retrieving an interesting assortment of little treasures.

Our latest childproofing efforts have involved the kitchen chairs. For a while it was quite effective to lay the chairs down on the floor under the table, but the girls have recently discovered that they can still move the booster seats around and use them to reach all the neat stuff on the countertops. This is our most recent (temporary) solution:

Tickle Time

Gwyn (in green) and Maddie,
with tickles by Cary.

Here is a picture from last

November with all four kids: